TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As Gov. Ron DeSantis works to convince the Florida Legislature to sign off on an ambitious $96.6 billion budget proposal, he could earn the support of some unlikely allies: Democrats.

What You Need To Know

  • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's budget plan likely to face GOP opposition

  • The $96.6 proposal is a record for the state spending plan

  • The budget includes increases for the environment, teacher pay, roads

  • Lawmakers concerned that COVID could result in revenue shortfall

DeSantis’s budget proposes increased funding for:

  • Teacher pay raises
  • Infrastructure projects like roads
  • Environmental protection

The Florida Legislature's minority party has historically embraced increased spending on those very priorities.

DeSantis’s proposal for environmental spending is designed to tackle the challenges posed by flooding, intensified storm events, and sea-level rise.

"I was encouraged last year when I put a resolution on the floor that said that we all believe in climate change, and it passed unanimously, so we’re having these little baby steps, but we’re getting to where we need to be," Sen. Linda Stewart (D-Orlando) said Monday after a meeting of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

DeSantis's proposal to create a $1 billion, four-year program to address impacts related to sea-level rise is likely to be particularly resonant with Democrats.

But Stewart noted a concern she shares with many of DeSantis' fellow Republicans: whether increased state spending is feasible amid a projected budget shortfall of more than $1 billion over the next fiscal year, much of it the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between spending slashed from last year's budget and a multibillion-dollar rainy-day fund, the governor said his budget proposal is more than realistic.

“We cut a billion dollars at the top over last year's budget, helped save a billion dollars in expenses,” DeSantis said in an interview last week. “We've also withheld close to a billion dollars in the agencies —  about $800 million that we're going to be able to use strategically if we need it. So that's sacrificing now to make sure that next year's budget works."

If Democrats do come to the governor's side in his effort to pass what would be the largest budget in Florida history, it would be a rare show of bipartisanship with roots in a few areas of mutual concern.

"For me, I think that the environment is very important, if we can — sea-level rise, I’m a hundred percent," Stewart said. "I’m hoping we can get in there and put the money that’s going to be necessary for that."